BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE TELL ME THAT AS A POLITICAL SCIENTIST, I HAVE NO BUSINESS TALKING ABOUT THE LAW BECAUSE I AM NOT A LAWYER
The connection between law and politics is deep and intricate. Far from being separate worlds, the two constantly shape, constrain, and legitimize each other. Here is how this relationship is usually framed, and why a political scientist like me is not only allowed but in fact well-placed to venture into legal issues:
1. Law and Politics as Interdependent Domains
*Law as a product of politics: Most laws come from political processes. Legislatures enact statutes; executives issue regulations; and even constitutions themselves are political compacts, written in the context of historical power struggles. Courts may claim neutrality, but their composition, jurisdiction, and procedures are shaped by political bargains.
*Politics as constrained by law: Once enacted, laws define boundaries for political action. Constitutional provisions, electoral laws, and anti-corruption statutes, for example, impose limits on what politicians and public officials can do. In other words, politics operates inside a legal framework.
*Law as a legitimizing force: The authority of political decisions often depends on their legality. Political power that ignores law tends to be delegitimized, while law gives a veneer (or a reality) of stability and fairness.
2. Why Political Scientists Study Law
Because legal institutions are political creations and arenas, legal issues cannot be separated from political analysis. The fields of public law, constitutional politics, judicial politics, and law & society explicitly examine law as a political phenomenon. Political scientists study:
*How courts influence policy (judicialization of politics).
*How constitutions are interpreted and used as political weapons.
*How impeachment, martial law, electoral rules, and administrative law operate as mechanisms of political control.
*The role of legal discourse in framing political struggles.
In short, political scientists can and should study legal issues. We must, because law is a critical part of the political system.
3. Distinction Between Legal Doctrine and Political Analysis
The caution is this:
*Lawyers focus on doctrinal reasoning: interpreting statutes, precedents, and applying them to cases.
*Political scientists focus on the structural and behavioral dynamics: why certain doctrines emerge, how courts behave, and what power relations drive legal outcomes.
When a political scientist engages legal issues, it is not to give legal advice, but to analyze law as an institution, as discourse, and as a political process. This difference of perspective is our strength.
4. Advantages of a Political Scientist’s Perspective
*Contextualization: We can situate legal rules in their broader historical and institutional setting.
*Critical Distance: We are less constrained by internal legal reasoning and can question how “neutral” doctrines actually serve power.
*Interdisciplinarity: We can integrate sociology, political theory, and history with legal analysis, revealing patterns lawyers might miss.
5. When Political Scientists Cross into Legal Scholarship
Many respected scholars have done so. Fields like constitutional design, judicial politics, international law, and law & development are populated by political scientists, not lawyers. For example: Alexander Bickel, Sanford Levinson, and Ran Hirschl (political scientists) shaped debates in constitutional law. International relations scholars deeply influence international law on war, treaties, and global governance.
Conclusion
Law and politics are inseparable. Law is politics in institutionalized form, and politics often plays out in the language of law. As a political scientist, I am on solid ground in venturing into legal issues—especially if I approach them with the distinct methods and perspectives of political science. I am not replacing the work of lawyers. I am expanding the understanding of how law functions as an instrument of power, a site of contestation, and a product of political process.
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